War means casualties. Every living life is a series of numbers in the face of war, especially in modern wars, where casualties are even more of an astronomical number.
If all the wars that occurred in modern world history are ranked one by one, the casualties occurred in Stalingrad defense battle , which occurred during World War II, will become the well-deserved first place.
Judging from the casualties alone, the Battle of Stalingrad was the most cruel and bloody battle in modern history, with the casualties between the Soviet Union and Germany reaching an astonishing 2 million people. The Battle of Stalingrad started with the German army entering the big river bay of the Don River on July 17, 1942, and ended by February 2, 1943, when the Soviet army wiped out the German army in the Stalingrad area. The entire battle lasted 200 days, and the battlefield area reached 100,000 square kilometers.
Let us review this battle that shocked the history of human war. On July 17, 1942, the German army launched an attack along the Don River, attempting to break through the Soviet defense line of the Don River. After paying a huge price, the German army finally broke through the Soviet defense line and began to attack Stalingrad.
In the early stages of the battle, the German army took the initiative in the battlefield, but the Soviet army was not willing to be outdone and defended to the death. On September 12, given that the German army had advanced to the edge of the urban area of Stalingrad, Hitler issued an order to launch a general offensive. Although the German army occupied the advantage of firepower, the Soviet army used street fighting to make it difficult to use Luftwaffe and armored troops . Both sides must fight for inch of land in Stalingrad City, and some important buildings were even more changed.
At that time, the Soviet army guarding Stalingrad passed down a word of mouth, "We occupied the kitchen, but the living room is still in the eyes of the enemy." The soldier will be the squad leader after one day, and the regiment leader after three days. However, the possibility of you becoming the regiment commander is zero, because no one can live for three days, and the average recruit can last only 9 minutes.
A survivor Soviet officer later recalled, "When I came to Stalingrad, my troops had more than 7,000 people, and two months later this number became more than 60 people." At dawn on January 31, 1943, the Soviet army was captured by the department store, the hiding place of the senior commander of the German Sixth Army, in the basement of the department store, General Corps Commander Friedrich Paulus and other German generals. The Battle of Stalingrad ended.
After paying a huge price, the Soviet army ended the German "Southern Cluster" offensive on the Soviet battlefield, and completely changed the comparison between the forces of Germany and the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front. Therefore, this battle was the turning point of World War II
For Germany, the failure of the Battle of Stalingrad was a major blow, "After the news came, the German people were extremely shocked."
Reference: "The Battle of Stalingrad"
